


The Art of the Drunk

by th3blackcat



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College student Keith, Drunkenness, M/M, Tattoos, i apologize to those who were keeping up with this, it's not a fic anymore, just my one shot i planned from the beginning, tattoo artist Lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 03:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7996948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/th3blackcat/pseuds/th3blackcat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Keith finally had enough of people think that he could never do anything ‘wrong’ or ‘against the rules’, he decided to let loose. What he didn’t realize was, this small, drunken act would soon flip his entire life around, for better or for worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of the Drunk

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Klance fic, inspired by my friend who refuses to tell me her user on here with three small words: "Keith and tattoo". I hope you all enjoy~

“I, I waan a tattoooo,” a voice slurred from the front of the shop. Lance had started cleaning up in the back, making sure the ink bottles were capped and clean and tossing needles that had been used in the sanitation basket. Although his shop wasn’t closed, he almost never got customers at this hour.

“I’m sorry sir, but you seem to be really drunk. Maybe I can call you a cab and you can come back tomorrow for that tattoo. Once you’re sober.”

Lance headed to the front to see what the problem was. “Is there something wrong here, Shay?” He looked at the tall brunette, her doe eyes bigger than usual. She was standing behind the counter, clutching the phone to her chest, as if it was a weapon she was scared of using. Shay never worked night shifts so she never had to deal with drunk customers.

“Arrrr you da artist? Can I geht a tattoooo?”

Lance looked at the man speaking. He had big almond shaped eyes and…a mullet. Lance didn’t know if he should laugh or groan. “Are you sure this isn’t going to be a drunken mistake? Tattoos aren’t cheap, man.”

He shook his head, and started walking to a seat, well, more like wobbled over. Lance helped him walk when he almost fell over.

Once the man was situated in the chair, Lance began to get the gun ready. He brought over a recently cleaned gun and some needles. He waited for the design to figure out the colors. “Do you know what tattoo you would like?”

He nodded enthusiastically. “I-I want a liiiooon…A red lion tha...that climbs up my arm,” he said as he gestured up his right arm. “An’ I want... da head to be like…biting meh neck. Yeah thah would be goo’. Can you dooo thah?”

Lance chuckled. This guy wasn’t so bad, almost reminded him of his youngest brother when he ate too much sugar. “I can do –“

“W-WAIT!”

Lance stopped what he was doing and stared at him with wide eyes.

The man was sitting on the chair with his arms out, as if trying to balance on a surfboard. “I…I wan’ i’ tooo beh climbin’ on meh shouwder instea’. Like da body woul’ beh hangin’ on meh bah an’ da arms an’ head on meh shouwder. How’s thah?” He looked up at Lance with eager eyes.

Lance smiled at him, a soft smile. “I can do that.”

The man did a fist pump and began to take off his shirt. The first thing Lance noticed was how defined his body was. It wasn’t the body of someone who got drunk often. He tried not to stare for long, he had a job to do that was going to take him a while to complete. But he wasn’t complaining about the view.

While preparing the colors and the design, Lance decided to get to know him better. Even if he was drunk, that didn’t stop Lance from thinking he was gorgeous. It was rare for him to get cute customers he took an interest in, given the late hours he worked. Sure, there were some cute guys and girls here and there, but none that captivated him like this.

“So what’s your name, mullet?” Lance knew the man was drunk but still had to turn around to hide his blush.

“Huuuh? Meh name… ‘s Keeeith! I’m Keith. W-Wat’s yous?” A lazy grin laid on his face as he turned to look at Lance.

“Lance. What made you decide to get inked?” He decided to focus more on the job than on the one he was working for.

Lance himself had little tattoos, mostly because his dad hated them. He had gotten a few in his rebellious years, and that’s when he learned that he could take his love of art and actually do something more with it. He had a little storm cloud with rain on his left wrist and two black bands that wrapped around his upper right arm. Right below the second band, he had a small head of a blue robotic lion on the inside of his arm. His last one was located on his left rib cage - a constellation known as Leo - surrounded by extra stars that were added in. These alone managed to piss off his dad to the point where they didn’t talk for four years. They managed to slowly patch things up, but things were still bad between them.

Keith frowned. Well, to Lance it looked more like he was pouting. “Aaall meh frien’s think imma boring goody tweh shoooes. Evn meh bo’fwend dump meh cuz he saaay I was a st-stick in da muuud. I can’ help da way I wuz rrraised, so imma proove them wong.” He seemed so proud of his decision, Lance couldn’t help but like the guy.

“Yeah? You must’ve had some strict parents.” Lance brought over everything he needed to finish this job. He sat down, ready to start.

“Whaale, it wasss mor’ da fosser care sys’em I wuz in. They werrre the stri’ ones nn’ it kinda im-im-imprinted? Imprinted in me. BUT NOT ANYMOOORE.”

Lance stared at him, surprised. “Foster care, huh…” he whispered.

Lance hadn’t thought that was loud enough for Keith to hear that, which caused him to be surprised when he responded. “Iz nooot thah baaad, movn’ ‘rrround. I nevah had a f-faaamileh to callll meh ooown, but I haad a ruf oveh meh head, aaaaaand clooothes, aaaaand foooood.”

Lance looked at Keith’s bright expression. He hurt for him, for the guy he met less than ten minutes ago. He brought the gun down to Keith’s pale skin and the moment he began, Keith let out a small yelp. Lance stopped. “You okay?”

“Yeaaah, yeah, just fiiiiiiiine. ‘m fiiiiiine. Yer fiiiiiiiiiine. We both beh fiiiiiiine. Jus’ GOOOooo...” Keith had a determined look on his face.

Lance resumed chuckling, asking Shay to turn the music up so he didn’t have to listen to Keith’s weird whimpering. She put his iPod on shuffle and the quiet shop was filled with the sounds ranging from The Killers, to Ariana Grande, to Selena. After stopping the fourth time to make sure he was okay, Lance figured he should finish this as soon as possible to put the poor guy out of misery. He began to sing along to _Amor Prohibido_ , continuing to do so louder when he learned that it calmed Keith down.

Once Lance had completed the job, he cleaned up Keith’s back and taped the tattoo. “Okay man, you’re good to go. Shay will ring you up at the front and tell you how to care for it.” He washed his hand to get off any ink that may have stained them. When Lance got no reply from the chair, he checked on Keith.

“Uh, Shay…You can go home now.”

“Are-are you sure? I can stay longer.” Shay was a great worker, always going above and beyond what Lance expected from her.

“Nah, I’m fine.”

“Okay, have a good rest of the night. Morning?” She gathered her thing, confused about how she should’ve said bye to Lance.

Lance chuckled as finished cleaning up as Shay left. Once the shop was completely clean, he hoisted the unconscious Keith on his back and headed to his apartment a few building away.

The drunk idiot had passed out.

Lance wasn’t sure if it was from the pain or the alcohol. He hadn’t managed to get much out of Keith’s phone since it wasn’t on him, so he figured he could just take the guy up to his place, let him crash there for the night and hope he would be fine in the morning.

Lance barely managed to get into his place with Keith on his back, but he somehow did. The fact that they were almost the same height didn’t help his situation. His roommate was asleep so he tried to be as quiet as possible. He dropped Keith onto his bed, forgetting about the newly created tattoo on his back. Keith groaned in his sleep. Once Lance was sure he wouldn’t get up, he tucked Keith in.

“La…nce…” Keith muttered in his sleep. Lance turn a bright shade of red.

He leaned close to Keith and whispered, “Y-yes?”

“I wa…ntna lion… Ra…wr.” Keith smacked his lips before turning to cuddle the pillow he was on.

Lance headed to the couch in the living room, still red from Keith calling his name. It had been a while since he had a crush on someone. He learned to suppress his feelings after his father found out about his sexuality. His awful luck with relationships didn't help him either. His father was already disappointed in him because of his career choice and coming out of the closet didn’t help the situation. So when Lance moved out, he was finally able to be himself. He flirted a lot without an ulterior motive, but never had someone made Lance feel the way he did now.

He suppressed a laugh, Keith’s drunken behavior not helping the butterflies in Lance’s stomach. Sure Lance thought he was cute, but he had never seen Keith before in his life. Nor would he ever see him again. Lance sat down, feeling down now that he thought about the reality of the situation. How did he even know if Keith was from here? Lance got comfortable on the couch and soon fell asleep.

* * *

 

Keith was awoken by the sound of a blender followed by a sharp murmur. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“Where am I?” He got up and assessed his surroundings. He was shirtless in a bed he wasn’t familiar with. When he didn’t recognize the room, he silently prayed that he didn’t do something he would regret while trying his best not to panic. Keith slowly opened the room door, stopping when he heard voices outside.

“I told you to be quiet man,” a voice whispered harshly.

“Well, bro, I can’t help it if one of your drunken clients is asleep in your room. I want to make pancakes with a mango milkshake and I ain’t letting someone you find attractive stop me,” another voice whispered back.

“Man, why you gotta be like that?” the first voice replied. Keith could hear the pout in his voice. “And could you say that any louder? Why not just announce it to the world.”

“What? That Lance McClain has a crush? Bruh, I should announce it to the world, because that's huge news. It's been what? Three years now?” The other voice didn’t even try to whisper anymore. He sounded indifferent which Keith guessed was due to his hunger.

He decided to walk out. He didn’t remember much from the night before, but he did remember doing some shots - which he regretted - and wandering off from the party into a tattoo shop. Everything else was blurry, except the vague memory of meeting a caramel skinned man. The pain coming from the back of his neck prevented him from trying to focus on the events more.

“Uh, sorry to intrude but…where exactly am I?” Keith reached to the back of his neck, searching for the cause of the pain as he walked to greet the apartment’s tenants. He did his best to remain calm. How often does one decide to get drunk to prove a point and wake up in a strangers’ apartment?

Lance’s jaw dropped. He knew Keith was good looking from the show he got last night, but now, seeing him during the day, Lance couldn’t help but stare. His body was toned, muscular, something he didn’t get a good look at while tattooing his back.

“Dude, don’t drool too much,” Hunk, his roommate muttered to him.

Lance closed his mouth and walked over to Keith who was more focused on the plastic that was attached to his back, than the man who had been eyeing him.

“Morning Keith, sleep well?” Lance asked, trying to remain collected.

Keith stopped and took a few steps back. “How do you know my name?” He looked scared – no terrified – that Lance knew his name. The panic he had been trying to hide began to surface.

“You told me last night.” Keith stared at him with a blank face. “When you came into my shop.” Still no reaction. “To get a tattoo…”

“WHAT?!”

“So you don’t remember. That’s just my luck.” Lance groaned. Cute, but doesn’t even remember their first meeting.

Keith closed his eyes and groaned. He _had_ wandered into a tattoo parlor last night. His eyes shot open when he realized what he had done. “ _Please_ don’t tell me this pain is coming from a tattoo.”

“Yup, you asked me for a lion perching on your shoulder with the rest of its body hanging down your back. You were pretty excited about it,” Lance said indifferently.

“Nonononono....”

Lance laughed, “Relax man, I didn’t do that.”

Keith sighed, “Oh thank God. But what did you do then?” The panic was still audible as well as all over his face.

Lance showed him the small lion head on the inside of his arm. “That same thing but red. It’s in between your neck and shoulder. I was going to call you a cab because you knocked out. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the pain or if you were that wasted. I didn’t know where to send you so I just brought you back here.”

“It was most likely the alcohol. I don’t normally drink so starting off with shots probably wasn’t the best idea.” Keith grimaced thinking about the party.

Lance snickered. He tried to make a good impression on Keith but realizing that he didn’t remember anything from last night, he figured it shouldn’t matter now. He didn’t remember the Lance from last night who tried to make small talk and found out something he probably shouldn’t have known, or how he tried to sing to Keith to calm him down when he started freaking out over the pain.

“What were you even doing?” suddenly curious as to why he would drink if he rarely did.

Keith groaned. “College party.” It was a bit more complex than that, but Keith didn’t want to drown Lance in pointless details.

He looked at Lance, and was taken aback by what he saw. He was in the kitchen, getting breakfast ready with Hunk, but he seemed so happy. He wore a soft smile on his face, a smile that made Keith think that’s how he normally was. Happy. There was a hint of mischief in his eyes – something that Keith wasn’t sure he was attracted to or should run away from. Now that Keith wasn’t drunk, he noticed that what he thought he dreamt last night was real. He was the guy from ‘his dream’: caramel skin, short brown hair, broad shoulders, and a bit of a build. He looked away to keep from staring and acting creepy.

“Ah, that makes sense,” Lance said as if that was the answer to all his questions.

Keith started fumbling around, looking for his wallet. “How much do I owe you for this?”

“For the tattoo, let’s see –“

“For everything. You didn’t have to bring me back here.” Keith felt embarrassed by his behavior. He also felt like he was intruding.

Lance stared at Keith, who was still shirtless. “You seemed like a nice guy. I enjoyed talking to drunk you. Plus you’re cute.” Lance winked at Keith.

Keith turned to hide his blush.

“You won’t have to pay me anything if…” Without even looking at Lance, Keith could hear the mischief in his voice.

And for some reason, Keith was looking forward to what he was going to say. “If?”

“If you agree to get dinner with me. But no top ramen college student dinner. A nice restaurant, four or five stars, maybe business casual. Tomorrow night at 7.”

Keith was stunned. “Why…would you want to get dinner with me?” Keith could see the blush creeping on Lance’s face.

“Well, like I said…you’re cute.” Lance did know that Keith had been dumped, but he wasn’t sure as to how recent the dumpage had been. He decided to roll the dice and see what life had in store for him. Lance looked up with a smirk on his face. “That, and you also said I’m fine.”

“I – WHAT?”

“Well, it was more along the line of ‘yer fiiiiiiine’ but either works for me.”

Keith was ready to throw himself in front of a bus. Lance was quite attractive but Keith was unsure of how this would work out. He then remembered why he went to the party in the first place.

With his voice full of resolve, the fear and panic gone, he said four simple words.

“It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!


End file.
